


pages

by spacs



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Almost Kiss, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 09:59:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9318212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacs/pseuds/spacs
Summary: He felt like one of the pages in the books with the way Gladio’s eyes watched him, careful and calculating. It was an odd feeling, being the subject of Gladio’s intense attention.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt from @thekindmagic:  
> Send me a “Important” and I’ll write a drabble about one character explaining why the other is so important to them.

Prompto wasn’t sure when it happened exactly, but all of a sudden he found himself pining for Gladio.

Gladio would laugh and Prompto felt like his heart would burst. Prompto would turn around in his front seat of the Regalia and see Gladio reading, intense and focused on his book, and he couldn’t help but stare. When they made camp at night, Gladio would move to the side and do his pushups and Prompto watched his muscles ripple through his arms and he would think about how it would feel to run his hands over them. He took a lot of pictures of Gladio and he was surprised no one had said anything. Ignis had to have noticed - Ignis noticed everything. He was either staying respectfully quiet or Prompto’s pictures were just that good.  _Oh man_  it had to be the respectfully quiet thing.

When the Crystal claimed Noctis and they went their separate ways, Prompto thought he would get over it. He went back to trying to impress Cindy and catch the attention of Aranea when she decided to grace them with her presence. He didn’t see Gladio very much these days and he tried not to think about him too much. When he found himself flipping through old pictures he could feel the flutter of his heart every time one of the pictures was of Gladio’s smile. He tried to chalk that up to missing his old friends.

It had been a year since Prompto had seen Gladio.

He arrived in Hammerhead, tired from a night of clearing out the daemons that had congregated. “Hey curly,” Cindy called, tipping her hat at him in the pleasant way she did to everyone. “Got a visit from one of your old friends,” she smiled, pointing over to the RV at the end of the lot.

Prompto turned and saw Gladio. His hair was longer and even from this far away he could see a new scar on his arm - that were somehow even bigger than he remembered. His nose was buried in a book, his expression just as concentrated as it had always been when he was invested, and he hadn’t even noticed that Prompto was there.

He felt himself running. He didn’t even call Gladio’s name, just collided with him, sending both of them toppling over the, now broken, plastic chair. Gladio’s book flew from his hand and he made a sound that sounded a lot like a chocobo as they hit the ground. His impossibly huge muscles tensed when Prompto wrapped himself around him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Prompto complained, burying his face against Gladio’s shoulder.

Prompto felt him relax, finally realizing what was going on. “Didn’t know you’d be here,” he answered. Gladio’s voice was exactly the same. The same deep gravel that rumbled in his chest. “You broke the chair.”

“ _You_  broke the chair,” Prompto retorted quickly. “You’re a giant, you shouldn’t sit in them.”

Gladio let out a resigned sigh and patted Prompto’s arm that was wrapped around him. “Can you let me up now?”

“Can you not disappear for a year without a word?” he shot back, his voice muffled by Gladio’s skin.

Silence fell over them and he felt Gladio drop his head to the ground. They stayed on the ground, Gladio’s hand still grasping Prompto’s arm, and he continued clinging to Gladio. “Sorry,” Gladio finally mumbled.

At that, Prompto let him sit up. He put his hands on Gladio’s shoulders, looking him square in the eye. “You can’t just leave.”

Gladio cracked his neck then rubbed the back of it, awkward under Prompto’s stare. He averted his gaze and asked, “Have you talked to Ignis?”

“Yeah,” he said, with a little more edge than he intended. “Because Ignis wanted me to know he was okay and check in to see if  _I_ was okay.” He waited for a beat and gently punched Gladio’s chest. “I’m fine, by the way.”

Gladio grinned, almost sheepishly, reaching up to flick Prompto’s forehead. “Sorry,” he repeated. “I had some stuff I needed to work out.”

Prompto pursed his lips and sat back, crossing his legs in front of the other man. Gladio sighed and leaned against the RV, stretching his legs out next to Prompto. “You know you’re…” Prompto hesitated, his voice catching in his throat.

“I’m what?”

He frowned and looked down at Gladio’s feet.  _Everything_  about this man was big, wasn’t it? He didn’t think about the implications of his thought until it was too late and his cheeks turned red. “It’s embarrassing, forget it.” He tried to wave Gladio off and stand up, but Gladio reached out and grabbed his wrist, keeping him down.

“I’m  _what_?” he pressed.

“You’re important to me,” Prompto blurted. He snapped his mouth closed, his cheeks puffy and he looked wide-eyed at Gladio. The other man raised his eyebrows and blinked, dropping his grip on Prompto’s wrist. “I mean you’re…” Prompto sighed and relented, “You’re important to me.”

“Yeah?”

Prompto rolled his eyes, shoving Gladio’s shoulder and trying to smile. “You’re a jerk but  _yeah_.” He scratched his cheek, willing the blood to leave his face. “So don’t just disappear on me again, okay?”

Gladio studied Prompto for a few moments, making Prompto dart his gaze from Gladio to anything  _but_  Gladio and then, without being able to help it, back to Gladio. He felt like one of the pages in the books with the way Gladio’s eyes watched him, careful and calculating. It was an odd feeling, being the subject of Gladio’s intense attention. He didn’t think he would ever have the privilege of getting this treatment, despite how much he had found himself wishing to be one of those pages while he’d watched the other man read in the Regalia a year ago.

“Okay,” Gladio said simply, finally answering.

Prompto lifted his eyebrows, surprised. “Okay?”

Gladio nodded. “Okay,” he clarified.

They stared at each other and for  _one_  second, Prompto thought he was going to lean in for a kiss —

“Ya’ll kiss and make up, yet?”

Prompto nearly jumped out of his skin, scrambling to stand at attention for Cindy. Gladio’s laugh rumbled and he put his hands his knees, pushing himself to his feet. He shoved Prompto, who turned to glare at him indignantly.

“You broke my chair,” Cindy scolded, still smiling. She put her hand on her hip, pointing down to the broken plastic on the ground.

“You can blame this one for that,” Gladio grinned, gesturing to Prompto, who gasped innocently. “I’ll get you a new one.”

“You better get me one of them fancy chairs over in Tenebrae,” she replied good-naturedly.

“Count on it!” Prompto piped in, stepping between them.

Gladio threw an arm around Prompto’s shoulders, drawing him in. He messed Prompto’s hair, locking his arm around him. “C’mon, you’re buying dinner,” he laughed, dragging Prompto to the diner.

Prompto ducked out from underneath Gladio’s grasp, playfully pushing his arm and followed after him. “You got yourself a date, big guy.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at Promptio and I never thought I would find myself writing in Prompto's POV but here we are. Hopefully you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!


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